Think of a Number: A Novel

Arriving in the mail over a period of weeks are taunting letters that end with a simple declaration: “Think of any number…picture it…now see how well I know your secrets.” Amazingly, those who comply find that the letter writer has predicted their random choice exactly. For Dave Gurney, just retired as the NYPD’s top homicide investigator and forging a new life with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but quickly ignite a massive serial murder investigation.

Last Breath

At the age of 13, Charlie Quinn's childhood came to an abrupt and devastating end. Two men, with a grudge against her lawyer father, broke into Charlie's home - and after that shocking night, her world was never the same. Now a lawyer herself, Charlie has made it her mission to defend those with no one else to turn to.

The Fourth Monkey

Se7en meets The Silence of the Lambs in this dark and twisting novel from the author Jeffery Deaver called "a talented writer with a delightfully devious mind". For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one that proves he has taken another victim, who may still be alive.

Final Girls: A Novel

Ten years ago college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie-scale massacre. In an instant she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to - a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls.

To Speak for the Dead: Jake Lassiter, Book 1

Defending a surgeon in a malpractice case, Jake Lassiter begins to suspect that his client is innocent of negligence...but guilty of murder. Add a sexy widow, a deadly drug, and a grave robbery to the stew, and you have Miami's trial of the century.

City of Echoes: Detective Matt Jones, Book 1

On Detective Matt Jones's first night working Homicide in LA, he's called to investigate a particularly violent murder case: a man has been gunned down in a parking lot off Hollywood Boulevard, his bullet-riddled body immediately pegged as the work of a serial robber who has been haunting the Strip for months.

A Criminal Defense

When a young reporter is found dead and a prominent Philadelphia businessman is accused of her murder, Mick McFarland finds himself involved in the case of his life. The defendant, David Hanson, is Mick's best friend, and the victim, a TV news reporter, had reached out to Mick for legal help only hours before her death. Mick's played both sides of Philadelphia's courtrooms. As a top-shelf defense attorney and former prosecutor, he knows all the tricks of the trade. And he'll need every one of them to win.

The Black Echo: Harry Bosch Series, Book 1

For LAPD homicide cop Harry Bosch - hero, maverick, nighthawk - the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal. The dead man, Billy Meadows, was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who fought side by side with him in a nightmare underground war that brought them to the depths of hell.

Stillhouse Lake

With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake. Though still the target of stalkers and Internet trolls who think she had something to do with her husband's crimes, Gwen dares to think her kids can finally grow up in peace. But just when she's starting to feel at ease in her new identity, a body turns up in the lake - and threatening letters start arriving from an all-too-familiar address.

The Girl in the Ice: Detective Erika Foster Crime Thriller, Book 1

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation. The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound, and dumped in water around London.

Darker Than Night

Ex-homicide cop Frank Quinn is still reeling in the wake of an elaborate setup that ended his career, but a new case presents a chance to salvage his reputation. A killer dubbed "The Night Prowler" has begun terrorizing the citizens of New York City. With the body count climbing, it's up to Quinn to unlock the mystery of a madman's past and end his bloody reign of terror. But in the city of New York, any one of eight million faces could be that of a killer - or his next target.

Orphan X

Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets - i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear.

The Academy: A Short Story

Quitting her job as a high school science teacher to join the Seattle Police Department was an easy decision for Tracy Crosswhite. Years earlier, what should have been one of the happiest days of her life instead became her worst nightmare when her younger sister, Sarah, disappeared. After the murder trial, while her family disintegrated, Tracy turned her heartbreak and her lingering questions into a passion for justice.

Memory Man

Amos Decker's life changed forever - twice. The first time was on the gridiron. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good and left him with an improbable side effect - he can never forget anything.

Felony Murder

On the surface, the court-appointed case that lands on young Dean Abernathy's desk is a biggie; he is slated to defend a homeless man accused of the felony murder of the popular black New York City Police commissioner during an early-morning mugging attempt. But at second look, the case promises to be a routine conviction. The evidence is overwhelming.

Magpie Murders: A Novel

When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the best-selling crime writer for years, she's intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan's traditional formula has proved hugely successful.

Rules of Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel

The "maddog" murderer who is terrorizing the Twin Cities is two things: insane and extremely intelligent. He kills for the pleasure of it and thoroughly enjoys placing elaborate obstacles to keep police befuddled. Each clever move he makes is another point of pride. But when the brilliant Lieutenant Lucas Davenport, a dedicated cop and a serial killer's worst nightmare, is brought in to take up the investigation, the maddog suddenly has an adversary worthy of his genius.

The Dying Hour: Jason Wade, Book 1

Jason Wade struggles with his haunting past as he pursues the story of Karen Harding, a college student whose car was found abandoned on a lonely stretch of highway in the Pacific Northwest. How could this beloved young woman with the altruistic nature simply vanish? Wade battles mounting odds and cut-throat competition to unearth the truth behind Karen Harding's disturbing case. Her disappearance is a story he cannot give up, never realizing the toll it could exact from him.

Dead End Girl: Violet Darger, Book 1

A serial killer stalks women in rural Ohio. He is deranged but brilliant, known only by the grotesque nickname the media has given him - The Doll Parts Killer. The name is apt. He dismembers his victims and leaves them in garbage bags in public places. A residential neighborhood. Next to a roller rink. Behind a Burger King. The investigation is a disaster. No physical evidence. Unreliable witnesses. To make matters worse, the FBI has lost contact with the star profiler working the case.

The Late Show

Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none, as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor. But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn.

Back of Beyond

Cody Hoyt, while a brilliant cop, is an alcoholic struggling with two months of sobriety when his mentor and AA sponsor Hank Winters is found burned to death in a remote mountain cabin. At first it looks like the suicide of a man who’s fallen off the wagon, but Cody knows Hank better than that....

The Inside Dark

Five days ago, aspiring crime novelist Jason Swike awoke chained to the wall of a run-down horse stable, convinced he would soon die at the hands of Crackerjack, the infamous serial killer who had terrorized the residents of Massachusetts for the past year - capturing and tormenting men, painting whimsical designs on their faces before shattering their bones and ending their lives. Just when death seems inevitable, Jason, with the help of another captive, manages to kill the madman and escape.

The Drowned Girls: An Angie Pallorino Novel, Book 1

Detective Angie Pallorino hasn't forgotten the violent rapist who left a distinctive calling card - crosses etched into the flesh of his victim's foreheads. When a comatose Jane Doe is found in a local cemetery, sexually assaulted, mutilated, and nearly drowned, Angie is struck by the eerie similarities to her earlier unsolved rapes. Could he be back?

A teacher goes missing under suspicious circumstances and a man is murdered at a local reservoir. For Detective Robyn Carter, there's no obvious link between the cases. But as she starts to delve into them, her investigations lead her to Abigail, perfect wife and mother to beautiful little Izzy. What was Abigail's connection to the victims? And why is she receiving threatening messages from an anonymous number?

Christine A Saunders says:"Laborious story and less than stellar narration"

Publisher's Summary

The most decorated homicide detective in NYPD history, Dave Gurney is still trying to adjust to his life of quasi-retirement in upstate New York when a young woman who is producing a documentary on a notorious murder spree seeks his counsel. Soon after, Gurney begins feeling threatened: a razor-sharp hunting arrow lands in his yard, and he narrowly escapes serious injury in a booby-trapped basement. As things grow more bizarre, he finds himself reexamining the case of The Good Shepherd.

Mocked even by some who'd been his supporters, Dave realizes the killer is too clever to ever be found. The only gambit that may make sense is also the most dangerous - to make himself a target and get the killer to come to him.

What the Critics Say

"Verdon...shows there's much more that can be done with the serial killer plot in his breakneck, knockout third Dave Gurney whodunit.... The tension is palpable on virtually every page of a story that perfectly balances the protagonist's complex inner life with an elaborately constructed puzzle." (Publishers Weekly)

I came across John Verdon's second book first, "Shut Your Eyes". Half way through, it was so good I headed to the computer to find a copy of the first one, "Think of a Number". Both were so far beyond excellent I even found myself writing a gushing email of appreciation to Verdon himself -- who, like most kindly authors, wrote a very nice reply. Huh!

Those two books were absolutely outstanding -- completely innovative plots, an appealing protagonist with a nasty shrew of a wife (sorry, but she was) so there was someone to hate, as well as a question to ponder: Why would a guy like that put up with this nasty lady? Anyway, I',m delighted to see that now, all three books are available from Audible.

"Let the Devil Sleep" isn't quite as good as the first two -- but that's probably only because the first two were so outstanding. I was disappointed in the ending -- in fact, when I sensed that matters were drawing to a head, I had two hours left. I deliberately saved a block of time so I could listen, uninterrupted, wanting the full impact of the resolution. I wouldn't have needed to do that. It ended with more of a whimper than a bang.

Still, it's a darn good book. The moment Dave Gurney gets involved with that lissome journalism student, you know there's trouble ahead -- I was wrong about what kind of trouble, but not about its intensity. We get more of Wife Madeline, who this time has her shrewish nature tamed a bit, if not her wardrobe. This time, she comes across much more sympathetically -- still moody, ethereal and remote, but her nasty side was kept undercover for the most part. And we get Kim, the nudnik journalism student, who has a way of getting what she wants, no matter what, which is what sets up the story in the first place. Middle aged, retired detectives, really should be more careful about giving in to the pleas of female college students. But then, of course, there wouldn't have been a book and that would be a tragedy.

I recommend this book very highly, and while you don't have to read or listen to the first two first, it would help, if nothing else to see how the characters keep evolving.

Finally, Verdon might consider publishing a book of Madeline's recipes. The dinners she was serving in this one all sounded so good I was drooling over every one -- reminded me a little of Spenser and his Susan. The lady can cook, if nothing else.

This is one of those cases where I wish there were "half" stars. The story was engrossing, but the resolution a tad disappointing -- when compared with John Verdon's previous two books (which is why I did not give it the full four stars). Still, I will recommend the novel. The main character continues to be believable and extremely likeable in his cold, analytical approach to life. The mystery is a good one -- if a tad more "normal" and expected than Verdon's previous books. The announcer is an improvement over Scott Brick who over-dramatized the second (and best, in my opinion) novel by this author. I will still look forward to his next book with anticipation. This one suffered only in comparison to his previous two.

Yes, I can find one flaw in this, the third book I've read so far in the Dave Guerney series by John Verdon. Right after I finish this review I would have downloaded the next… and that is the flaw. Apparently it's only available in Swedish! Damn!!! Well, in fact, that book really is a translation of the second in this series, "Shut Your Eyes Tight". Yep, it's flawed-up that this is the last currently available in the Guerney saga.

Double Damn!

Yesssss…. I guessed correctly at an important part of the killer's methodology, but I wasn't sure until the hot ending that packaged it all tight. Verdon weaves relationships into his plot with the precision of Persian rug maker. While it's not necessary to succeed in the mystery genre to create multi-dimensional characters, Verdon shows how it can be done (at least with the key people)… and maybe should be done, more often. Guerney's personal flaws are believable, sympathetic, and important to each of the stories.

This is a dark series, all built around procedural puzzles. Must you suspend disbelief? Well of course. Must you accept the improbable? Only if the author's talented enough to make you. Verdon's got that kind of talent.

Oh, and Robert Fass is a magical actor. His voice CREATES each distinct character in this book. Forget nit picking, he neither brings a nit to the table nor leaves any to pick at.

There's a "however"… Start this series from the top with "Think Of A Numb3r". let The Devil Sleep" isn't as much a novel as it is the third part of a rewarding epic.

This was a well-paced story with an interesting plot and characters. As with other books in the series I found the husband/wife relationship irritating and distracting. That was true here as well--although less so. Verdon seems to always come up with interesting plots and I look forward to reading others in the series.

It did. I didn't put all of the pieces together on this one for quite some time so naturally, I was on the edge of my seat nearly all the way. Also, because of the involvement of one of the characters in the plot, I was constantly waiting for the author to kill that person off. It seemed like something that was going to happen. I kept waiting for it as I listened.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There is a nice Father-son moment in this book that is very well written and I found it moving. To say more would spoil things though.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the development of the main character in this book. He seems to come to terms with a few things that have been bothering him in the previous two stories.

A little disappointed in the previous reviews that praised this book. If I was to have read it - Maybe I would have finished. Maybe...... The voices used with these characters were so grating on my nerves - It hurt to listen. 20+ year old girl sounded like a Twelve year old. Every female voice was annoying. The characters all sounded like they were exaggerated beyond normal. It was very hard to relate with or empathize with anyone in this book. I can't believe I would prefer Scott Brick x 3 over the narrator in this book. The book was slow. The time line for a couple of plots seemed off.

I am so tired of these reviews. This book could not be written by John Verdon, who wrote the first two in the series. This is so freaking and drawling, in both writing and narrating sense... I could not passed beyond chapter 7. The characters are acting differently, the storyline is stupid. Kim, who is being called so smart by everyone is being conned by a stupid boyfriend, narrator sounds like she is 12. How can this narrator be better than Scott Brick!!!! I am unfollowing the reviewers who rated this &quot;highly recommended.&quot; This is the 3rd book that I bought and extremely disappointed!

I burned through the first two Gurney books; captivated by the puzzles and clues, thinking all the time of who it could be and what insights the author was sharing. Backwards boot soles? I'm in! They were wonderful mazes and I couldn't wait to punch this last one up. I spent most of this book yelling out loud in my car "oh my God, will you please kill Kim off so I don't have to hear that whining?" each time Mr. Fass used that voice to portray the whiny persona of Kim. She came off as anything but a capable, driven person with a project she was devoted to and more like a kindergarten student that needed multiple chances to answer any question she was presented with. Other reviews were right on; how in the world did Gurney, a completely unemotional and cold character, put up with the endless stream of helplessness and inability to even answer questions that Kim presented? I'm only happy to report that I finished it today and never gave in to my fantasies of driving off a bridge anytime I heard that Kim voice. Highly recommend the first two. Save the time on the 3rd and do something more productive like DIY home dentistry.